Paradise Lost: Eve's Transgression

• Lines 780-838 show Eve eating the fruit and praising the tree, viewing it as a god.
• Eve refers to God as the 'great Forbidder' and sees herself as 'mature in knowledge'.
• She decides to tell Adam about her actions to prevent him from being with 'another Eve' if she is expelled
• This shows her first experience of jealousy.
• Lines 838-887 describe Eve returning to Adam with the forbidden fruit.
• Adam is making a garland of flowers for her, worried about her absence but expectant of her return.
• Eve claims she felt 'agony of love' while away and says the fruit brings bliss, only fully realized if Adam eats it too.
• During this her face is flushed with 'distemper', a condition never seen before.

Tragedy in Opening Lines (780-790)

• There is a lamenting tone that suggests a tragic inevitability.
• "Rash" and "evil" suggest the negative implications.
• Anaphora ('she plucked, she ate') highlights Eve's accountability for her downfall.
• Caesurae in 'she plucked, she ate:' emphasizes the tragic moment through simplicity.
• The term 'reached' recalls Satan's deceptive depiction of the fruit and the term 'hand' reminds of Adam and Eve's separation in Book IX
• The use of 'seemed' shows Eve is misguided, and 'fancies' indicates temporary delusion, amplifying tragedy.
• Natural world is personified ('sighing', 'signs of woe') reflecting universal consequences of individual action.

Satan's Actions

• After Eve eats the fruit, Satan hides to see if Adam will also fall, and will hear their judgement later in Book X.

Eve's State and Flawed Logic

• Eve is described as ‘heightened as with wine, jocund and boon'
• This shows a contemporary belief of drunkenness and loss of Reason were the immediate effects of the Fall.
• Eve's actions suggest excessive appetite and passion
• Eve uses confused and paradoxical terms when talking about God
• There are signs of idolatry in her address to the tree
• Eve conflates ‘wisdom' and knowledge, preferring 'experience' to strict obedience
• She shows signs of pride, mistakenly believes she is becoming 'free', and shows jealousy.

Examples of Eve's Flawed Logic

• Actions show excessive appetite ('Greedily she engorged without restraint')
• Confused view of God ('Heaven is high...Our great Forbidder')
• Idolatry in addressing the tree ('henceforth my early care...Shall tend thee')
• Conflates wisdom/knowledge ('Experience, next, to thee I owe...')
• Shows pride ('so to add what wants...inferior, who is free?')
• Mistaken belief in freedom ('for, inferior, who is free?')
• Shows jealousy ('But what if God have seen...A death to think!')

Symbolic Significance of the Garland

• Adam weaves the garland for Eve, meant to celebrate her domestic excellence ('rural labors').
• Reinforces connection between Eve and roses, but faded petals symbolize mortality.
• There is dramatic irony as Eve's rural labors were sinful, harvest bringing death.
• Reminds of association between Eve and agricultural goddesses, foreshadowing her downfall.
• The poetic description with word order and alliteration amplifies pathos.

Adam's Response

• Adam is 'amazed' and ‘astonished', which includes a play on words.
• His body language shows inaction, 'joints relaxed', hand 'slack', and stands ‘speechless'.
• His 'pale' and 'chill[y]' appearance shows shock and surprise
• 'Faltering measure' of his heart highlights disruption to the iambic meter with uneven caesurae.

Ambrosial Smell of the Fruit

• The 'ambrosial' smell means ‘immortality' in Ancient Greek, contrasting with the fruit bringing mortality.

Eve's Theatrical Manner

• Eve's use of 'prologue', 'apology', and 'prompt' suggests her speech is rehearsed, exaggerated, and insincere.
• It reminds the reader of Satan's play-acting from Book IX
• 'Bland' suggests blandishment, a flattering action to persuade.

Eve's Postlapsarian Address to Adam

• She focuses on herself in opening question, ignoring Adam's objection to her departure
• The iambic meter is disrupted by ‘Thee I...', stressing 'I'
• Eve is dishonest, claiming 'agony of love' despite showing no signs of missing Adam
• She claims she sought the fruit's benefits 'for thee', which is not supported by the text.
• Eve uses arguments similar to those made by Satan
• She is eager to share her (misleading) account: ‘strange / Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear'
• She claims improved attributes ('opener mine eyes...growing up to godhead')
• She invokes fate ('equal lot / May join us')
• She betrays fixation on hierarchy: ‘different degree /Disjoin us'

Villain or Victim?

• Her's first speech uses 'bland' words, but her 'countenance' is 'blithe', raising questions of manipulation
• It questions whether she consciously manipulates Adam or genuinely believes her story
• This raises the broader question of how Eve can be seen as a villain and/or a victim
• C.S. Lewis sees he is a villain, stating that if she is to die, Adam must die with her
• She is committing the sin of murder
• D. McColley argues Milton saw himself in Eve's cultivation of the garden (writing poetry), and her ‘plea for freedom and a little solitude'.